Discussion on: How To Brand Yourself When Switching Careers Into Software Development

I was an Aircraft Structures Mechanic for 18 years before making the switch at 37.

The number one thing that helped me the most is taking actual university courses on edx.org over any other type of self learning approach. In fact, the one thing that is actually inhibiting my career potential right now is the lack of a degree. I was prepared and did start off at the bottom. That is what most people don't understand, coming from another career you shouldn't expect to immediately start off with a high salary. I started at an agency at 15/hr. It took 4 years to make it back to what I was making in my previous career and another 2 to surpass it. So be prepared to start at the bottom, as should be expected. I didn't become a top rated structures mechanic overnight don't expect to be a top rated developer overnight. I think some people's success stories about landing a 6 figure income with 0 experience really skews people's perceptions. Yes, developers are very much in demand right now, yes people pay top dollar for us. But the company expects a return on there investment and nothing, absolutely nothing replaces on-the-job real world experience. I don't chase money, I chase job satisfaction, luckily we are in such high demand that companies are very aware of keeping us happy. But juniors aren't in demand and shouldn't expect the same as a seasoned, experienced dev. Gotta pay your dues, and be confident in your abilities wherever your experience is at, if you are not confident in your abilities practice until you are.

Lastly, my advice,building your own unique projects and having a portfolio of them (not tutorials, the more advanced the coding concepts, the better,especially with a solid understanding of Object Oriented Design principles) and a professional blog are the two things that will be beneficial in getting started in a career.